Facts About Earth

Earth is best defined as the only planet in our solar system that is known to support life. It is the third planet in the solar system, in terms of ascending distance from the Sun. Earth has all the ingredients needed for life, in the form of air, water, and so on. The fifth largest planet in the solar system, the planet is composed of three layers - a core, a mantle and an outer crust. A fun trivia about Earth is that though the planet is named 'Earth' only 29 percent of its surface is actually comprises of land (earth), while the rest is made up of water. Read on to explore some more interesting and fun facts about Earth.

Interesting & Fun Facts about Earth

Earth is the only planet in the Solar System to have water in all its three states of matter: solid (ice), liquid (sea, rain, etc.) and gas (clouds).

Earth is almost five billion years old, although life has only existed on the planet for the last 150 to 200 million years. This means that life has been present on the planet for only 5%-10% of its lifetime.

Earth and Mercury are the two densest planets in the Solar System.

The length of time it takes for Earth to orbit the Sun is 365 and a quarter days. To make up this extra quarter, which isn't counted at the end of a year, we have an extra day every four years i.e. on 29th February.

Earth is gradually slowing down. Every few years, an extra second is added to make up for lost time. Millions of years ago, a day on Earth will have been 20 hours long. It is believed that, after a few million years, a day on Earth will be 27 hours long.

The centre of the Earth i.e. its core is molten. This means that it is liquid rock, which sometimes erupts onto the surface through volcanic eruptions. This core is 7,500° C hotter than the surface of Sun!

Earth is the only planet in the Solar System not to be named after a mythical God.

Despite being called Earth, only 29% of the surface is actually 'earth' (land). The rest of the planet's surface (71%) is made up of water.

From a distance in space, Earth would seem to be the brightest of the 8 planets. This is because large amount of sunlight is reflected by the water on the planet.

Earth is the only planet in the Solar System known to be geologically active, with earthquakes and volcanoes forming the landscape, replenishing carbon dioxide into the atmosphere and erasing impact craters from meteors.

Earth's average distance from the Sun is 149,600,000 km (92,960,000 miles)

Earth has a diameter of 12,760 km and mass of about 5.972 x 1024 kg

Earth is the fifth largest planet in the Solar System.

Earth has only one satellite, the Moon. Moon is the second brightest object in the sky, as seen from the planet.